The Aggravated Assistant
by TheDreamerLady
Summary: Walter's odd behavior is starting to wear on Astrid. General setting season one, pre-eps 4. Themes of Walstrid


I apologize for any inaccuracies in characterization. I have only seen the first season, and not recently. If you have suggestions for word choice, or chances PLEASE let me know. At this point, I'm not sure if I want to make this more than just a one shot. Let me know what you think. This is losely inspired by Walter's occasional comments about enjoying bondage, or getting stabbed with syringes.

As I'm sure you are aware, I do not have any ownership of Fringe, although it would be quite fun if I did.

~Dreamer

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Astrid had never actually yelled at Walter before. She'd made the occasional snippy comment, or had muttered under her breath(contrary to popular belief she wasn't actually a saint), but she'd never reached her breaking point before.

It was over something stupid, something she could hardly even remember. Something to do with push pops, or sherbet. But it had been yet another request in a day that had been filled with them(including watching Walter by herself which wasn't easy during the best of times), and Astrid simply couldn't deal with Walter's request in her usual rational manner.

And she'd yelled. Practically thundered, truth to be told, her brown eyes narrowed and flashing. And a mysterious change had passed over Walter. His mouth had opened slightly, his eyes had shined slightly, and he'd looked at her in an oddly pleased way. And, when she was done yelling, he worked his mouth for a minute before finally replying.

"Oh, I do apologize Astro. Won't happen again." And with a curious grin, he'd trundled off.

And Astrid, with a slightly groan over his misuse of her name had gone back to her paperwork(some of it weeks late already). And for a short while, she'd simply filed yelling into her notebook under a section that also contained a list of sugary snacks almost guaranteed to keep Walter quiet for fifteen minutes.

But in the weeks following, she noticed whenever it was just the two of them in the lab(which, much to her dismay happened with increasing frequency), Walter became more obnoxious. At first, she'd shrugged it off, and dealt with these outbursts with sweets, smiles, or redirection. But as the weeks dragged on the junior agent began to spot a pattern, as well as a decline in the effectiveness of her handling of Walter Bishop- but only when they were alone. A creeping suspicion began to form in the back of her mind, a hypothesis she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to test. Unfortunately, once she began to wonder, she soon found herself powerless to resist the temptation to test.

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"Dammit Avril, this is not the size of beaker I asked for!" In what was becoming unfortunately familiar, Astrid had only managed to enter the lab with the supplies she'd been sent out to purchase before Peter and Olivia informed her that they'd be back within the hour(which meant two hours at the earliest), and to just keep Walter entertained. By the time they'd exited the room, Walter had already dug through the bags she'd brought in with her, and was holding up a set of beakers.

"No, those are the correct size." Astrid said, turning away from the closed door to face the irate scientist. "It is the size I wrote down, and double checked twice before I left."

"These simply will not do. You must go out and purchase the right ones. I will accompany since you obviously have no idea what you're doing." Astrid didn't like the look of Walter's face when he spoke. It wasn't the face he usually made when he was upset about something. And her hypothesis whispered from the recesses if of her mind, and without sparing a second to think, Astrid acted on impulse.

"No. I will not." She declared. "You are going to make these work. These were the beakers you wanted an hour ago, and these are the beakers you are going to get. If you don't like it, I will personally sit you in a corner with a dunce cap, and feed you butterscotch pudding whenever you ask for food."

She watched Walter's facial expression as he listened to what she had to say. There was a faint tinge of pink in his face, and his mouth opened and he licked his lips. He shifted slightly, and opened his mouth as if to say something. Astrid raised a hand to prevent him from talking.

"No. That's the rules for now." Walter nodded slowly, face still tinged pink.

Diffidently, he began to speak.

"And if I keep arguing, will you turn me over your knee and spank me? Or inject me with syringes of experimental drugs? Will you tie me up and gag me?" While the words could have been construed as backtalk, the excitement that Walter was displaying didn't bode well for that theory. Meaning, of course, that Astrid's original hypothesis was correct.

"Go work with you beakers." Astrid responded irritably. Oddly enough, Walter actually obeyed her. While the scientist got to work, Astrid pinched the bridge of her nose and attempted to reason out what she should do.

Obviously, Walter had some sort of fantasy involving her dominating him. The question was... what did she intent to do about it?


End file.
